Churchill was widely praised and also blamed during his lifetime. Six decades after his death, a claim about his responsibilty for a wartime famine in India, alluded to by joint Turner Prize-winning artist Helen Cammock, has proved an allegation too far.

Cammock’s installation, The Persistence, was removed from display at London’s National Portrait Gallery yesterday, June 22, following a backlash. Critics were upset that she compared Oliver Cromwell’s ruthless campaigns in 17th-century Ireland with Churchill's crisis management of India in 1943, claiming both “starved people en masse”.

The artist bowed to pressure and removed her work at the NPG, but she stressed to The Guardian: “To question, challenge and explore ideas and histories is vital to a healthy society and art is intrinsic to this.”

The blow-up coincided with dramatic events down the road in Westminster. Keir Starmer announced yesterday morning he was stepping down after a mutiny in the Labour Party. The newly elected MP most likely to succeed him, Andy Burnham, arrived in triumph in the House of Commons a few hours later.

Whoever becomes the new occupant of No. 10 Downing Street this summer, the seventh in ten years, the NPG will need a new formal portrait of them PDQ.

The number of works by the lesser known Abstract Expressionist artist Emerson Woelffler that came up for auction between June 16 to June 23. Averaging around $1,500 each, he is among the more accessible Ab Ex artist for collectors.

As countries across Europe issue red weather alerts, the Louvre has warned visitors that it may open later and that they could find some rooms closed this week.

When I.M. Pei designed his celebrated Pyramid, temperatures hitting 40 degrees Celsius (roughly 104 degrees Farenheit) were probably not part of his calculations.

On Saturday, the heatwave forced the Paris museum to cancel a concert due to be performed by the Orchestre de Paris beneath its glazed roof.

London’s Whitechapel Gallery has taken the extreme step of temporarily shutting until the high temperatures subside. It has closed its galleries until June 27, although its café and bookshop remain open.

Time is running out to see a show by Vanessa German inspired by an attempted prison break on a hot summer night in 1913.

Two young women escaped from the Louisville Industrial School of Reform’s Colored Girls Dormitory. Although they were soon recaptured, their daring escape led to an investigation into the harsh conditions at the institution.

The artist has created dramatic figures from a glittering array of materials, including buttons, beads, and shells, with titles such as The Look-Out, The Girl Who Rang the Alarm, and The Bell-Ringer. These works are now on display at Louisville's Speed Art Museum.

The exhibition is the culmination of research made possible by the inaugural Sam Gilliam Visiting Artist Program.

German’s installation and performance piece, …do you remember when you were the sky?, continues through June 28.

1 - Hypha Studios has converted a former office building on London's South Bank near Tate Modern into a raw, temporary art space that launches on June 25. Will Jennings is managing the artists' studios and exhibition space on behalf of developer HUB and Bridge Fund Management.

2 - Pussy Riot's Nadya Tolokonnikova had to adopt “17 fake identities” to obtain a bed sheet from a Belarusian penal colony for her installation POLICE STATE, which is now on show at the MCA Chicago, she told the publication Sixty Inches from Center.

3 - Getty Images, one of the world’s largest photography agencies, has signed a licensing agreement with OpenAI after losing a copyright infringement claim against another AI developer. Getty is also finalizing a $3.7 billion merger with its rival, Shutterstock.

4 - At a conference in Accra, the Netherlands and Germany formalized an agreement to repatriate to Ghana 2,000 artifacts looted during the colonial era.

5 - The Finnish brand Marimekko is launching an anniversary exhibition that will tour Japan. Opening in Kyoto on July 4, the show celebrates 75 years of its colorful, flower-inspired prints and fashions, and it will include collaborations with local artists.